Samburu

The trip from Nanyuki to Samburu National Park took us from forests to open farmland to finally the very arid land of the Samburu. We saw remote Samburu tribe huts in remote areas of this land that you would wonder how anyone could survive. We stopped at a Samburu village where we were treated to traditional dances, songs by the children demonstrating their value of education, tours of their village and one of the 5 foot tall huts. Samburu National Park was my favourite safari of our trip. Unique to Samburu, are the Rothschild Giraffe (distinct tiled spots), Grevy’s Zebra (narrow stripes), gerenuk (browse bushes on hind feet), and Beisa Oryx. The night that we camped in the park we were privledged to visited by a unique Spotted Genet cat. Just as we were leaving the park, we had our first look at a cheeta. It was wounded from a recent encounter and nervously looking behind him. (Lions hate cheetahs and will kill them when they can.) We camped in the park for one night, and were visited by many animals including a large spotted genet (long-tailed cat). Other than the main river, the other rivers were not running because of the very dry year.